© UNESCO

Teaching Respect for All is a joint UNESCO-United States of America-Brazil project launched in January 2012 to counteract discrimination both in and through education. Acknowledging that discrimination is on the rise worldwide, Teaching Respect for All promotes an educational response to counter discrimination and violence through strengthening the foundations of mutual tolerance and cultivating respect for all people, regardless of colour, gender, class, sexual orientation, national, ethnic, or religious orientation/identity. Teaching Respect for All has chosen to focus efforts on the formal and informal classroom, targeting learners of 8-16 years old, and aims to build curiosity, openness, critical thinking and understanding among youth learners, thus equipping them with the awareness, knowledge, and skills to cultivate respect and stop discrimination on all levels. The project is founded on the universal values and core principles of human rights, while acknowledging each country has its own history and mechanism for addressing the issue of discrimination in education.